Paragon mortgage lending doubles in Q2

Paragon Mortgages more than doubled its new buy-to-let lending during the second quarter to £742.3m.

Underlying Group profits were £70.1m for the first half compared with £69.4m for the same period last year.

New mortgage lending was up 65% to £556.2m as interest from portfolio landlords picked up with completions in Q2 increasing by 100% to £185.2m in Q1.

An increased proportion of applications were received from landlords with more specialist needs, with six out of 10 pipeline applications (64.7%) coming from landlords with larger and more complex property portfolios and over a quarter of pipeline applications (26.5%) from landlords operating in limited company structures.

John Heron (pictured), managing director of Paragon Mortgages, said: “The buy-to-let market is changing as a result of the developments in tax and regulatory policy towards the sector.

“We have seen greater polarisation in recent months in the market as professional landlords have shaped their investment strategies to mitigate the impact of these changes.”

The group also achieved strong growth in asset finance where new lending increased by 84.7% to £106.6m and its other lending products and development finance where lending grew by 54.8% to £105.6m.